Gordon Post Office lease renewed
Pressure from all levels helped keep the doors open, community members said.
By: Maria Lockwood
TOWN OF GORDON — Gordon residents got a Halloween treat this year. With eight days remaining until it was slated to close its doors, the lease for the Gordon Post Office was renewed Monday, Oct. 31, after months of stalled negotiations.
The post office, which serves the towns of Gordon and Wascott, had previously been slated to shut down Nov. 9.
United States Postal Service spokesperson Desai Abdul-Razzaaq confirmed that the lease for the Gordon Post Office had been renewed.
“The community outreach and concern had a major role in making sure this location stayed open,” said Joy Rogers of Gordon, one of the organizers of a push to keep the site open. “We are a vibrant community with passion, rich history and strength, and seeing the community pull together and unite to make change happen makes me so proud.”
The town of Gordon has had a post office for 162 years. When they learned it was set to close, residents turned out in droves for a rally at the post office Oct. 20 and inundated the United States Postal Service phone lines with calls. A petition to save the site garnered more signatures that the town's population. The movement to retain the Gordon Post Office received support from both state Rep. Nick Milroy, D-South Range and U.S. Congressman Tom Tiffany, R-Hazelhurst, as well as Sen. Ron Johnson’s office.
“Behind the scenes we were hitting them at every level from every angle,” historian Brian Finstad, another organizer, wrote in a Facebook post Monday. “Decision makers as far away as Denver were following our rally in the news online. The Senators and Congressman’s offices in Washington D.C. were all aware of it. A consumer complaints representative in Milwaukee told me they had never seen anything like this from such a little town.”
Rogers also thanked Doug Smith of JLL, the third party postal leasing agent, who assisted with communication and documentation processing. She said the lease is good for five years and is transferable to any new owners. There is no negotiation needed to extend it; the lease auto renews in five-year increments.
Rogers said the group’s next focus will be the transition of the building. The building owners have stated they wish to donate the property to the Gordon-Wascott Historical Society.
“But the post office remaining in the building is the major victory,” Rogers said.
Read the article here.